user posts in plugin

[Mike]

I want to use "user.posts in my plugin is this permissible?
trying to divide user posts by 10.
and having it appear in miniprofile as coins:value

[Chris]

If what you are asking is whether you can use the template variable $[user.posts] in your plugin then that's not possible, that particular variable is extra problematic since it is contextual so changes based on what is being done and would not translate at all to the global context in which plugins run. There are some variables that do get processed server-side in your plugin such as $[plugin] and $[current_user] provided they appear in an HTML component (e.g. global header). I don't have an exhaustive list of those that do work since they've changed behind the scenes without any fanfare over the years. I recall $[theme] being processed at one time (to navigate the themes obstacle course) and other globals such as $[route],$[forum], etc. but they no longer seem to be (or it could just be my wishful/faulty memory)

Most plugins that utilize the post count for some sort of calculation (monetary, posting activity, etc.) harvest that number by walking the mini-profile DOM or using pattern recognition to extract it. Both methods are however prone to failure if the mini-profile has been altered enough to make generic identification impossible or produce a false positive. The plugin would need to know every single theme and all variations used in those themes (not very feasible) in order to correct its search algorithm and work unaided across a myriad of themes.

[Mike]

Thanks for the explanation Chris